Wednesday, March 9, 2011

There are many reasons why I love my little city, but here's one of them. I heart my city police department. Wondering why? Check this out.

So this morning I'm running to Starbucks for a vente three equal sugar free vanilla six pump soy latte before an appointment. I have my go juice with me in the car, leave the drive through, turn right onto Green Street headed for London Street. I look to my right to see:

This kind of startled me. I know that the law says you need to leave a lot of room between your car and an emergency vehicle, but I wasn't too clear about a horse. Okay, now I'm more than sure that not one of you saw something like this next to the Red Cross building in your town this morning.

Or this:

Because it is important that Pam's Hair Designs with the red marquee, and yes, ALL of Green Street is safe from varmints, rustlers, women of ill fame, horse thieves, and other malefactors. I've seen some interesting things in my city concerning my police department, but this tops even the time that the transvestite counterfeiters were arrested by PPD and the Secret Service on Chesapeake Avenue in my neighborhood. I was never sure whether it was a lifestyle choice or a disguise.

Quite seriously, police horses do important work. NYPD depends on their horses for all sorts of things,including patrolling Central Park. All horses need exercise. It is important that police horses become used to traffic vs. being exercised in a ring or a rural area. Our equine friends are highly effective at crowd control. They are used here for big football games and other community events.

Another officer on a different horse named Knightmare (I think this horse's name is Max. Knightmare is a cooler name) once caught a bank robber hiding in the bushes with the bag and the dye pack leaking all over the place. Cops have a great vantage point on top of a horse. Horses and their humans also serve during parades, particularly Portsmouth's Memorial Day Parade, the oldest in the nation. I love Portsmouth's police horses, one of the wonderful things about living here. Seriously.